Teacher Sites Website Content

Your Homepage

What is the purpose of my Home Page?

The Home Page is the first page that will be displayed on your classroom website and should welcome visitors; establishing the purpose of your website. You can place images, files and links on the Home Page as well as important information for parents or students, i.e. welcome paragraph, news flashes or time-sensitive announcements.


How do I add information to my Home Page?

To add text, pictures, files or links to your Home page:

  1. Click on the My Site Content tab
  2. Click on Edit Home Page
  3. You can manage your Home page using the tab system. Use the four tabs (Page Info, Images, Files, and Links) to add text, images, files and links to the page.

An effective Home page should have a useful introduction to your site that lets students and parents know the purpose of your site. You may also want to have a "top story" or other important information on your Home page. Try and avoid using "Under Construction" messages on your Home page and consider putting your site behind a password until you are ready to go live. To password protect your classroom website from public viewing, click on the My Settings button and then the Site Options tab. Enter in a password. Remember to hit Save when finished.


How do I hide or delete a Webpage?

You can delete any Main Section or subpage on your website other than your Home Page. To delete a subpage:

  1. Click on edit sub page under the applicable Main Section. If the subpage you are looking for is a sub, subpage, you would click on the Subs link next to the appropriate subpage.
  2. Click on the title of the subpage you want to delete. This will open the page.
  3. Click on the Delete tab.
  4. The next window will confirm the deletion of the page. Review the message and click on the Yes button. Hit Save.
  5. The page is now deleted. However, you can recover the page under the Management tab. Click on Content Changes. Text can be recovered, however, files and images cannot.
PLEASE NOTE: It is also possible to hide a subpage if you think you might want to use it at a later date. To hide a webpage, click on the link to edit the page and simply enter a date into the Hide This Web Page On field. Hit Save.


Sorting Sections

TeacherSites gives you the ability to determine the order of your Main Sections. If you would like to change the order of your Main Sections on the front of your classroom site, click on the Sort Web Site link located in the lower left-hand corner of the My Site Content area.

The Order column contains text box fields that allow you to dynamically enter in a number. To change the order of the sections, double click on the order number, enter in the desired number and hit SAVE.

Your changes are applied instantly and can be viewed by clicking on the View Site button.


Rich-Text Editor Toolbar (RTE)

Each Typical webpage you create with TeacherSites provides you with a Rich-Text Editor (RTE) toolbar to format text.If you’re using a Mac, you must use either the Firefox or Safari (3.0.4 or higher) browsers.

The RTE allows you to bold, italicize, and underline text without any programming knowledge. You can also add images, tables and bulleted lists.

The RTE looks similar to the toolbar in Microsoft Word. To bold a word, simply double click on the word or words and click on the B button. Fonts and type sizes can be changed by selecting from the drop-down menus titled Font and Size.

If you hold your mouse over any of the buttons, an explanation for each will appear. For more toolbar options, simply click on the up and down arrow button located in the upper-right corner. See video for examples of how each button can be used. 

Pasting from Word

Word documents sometimes contain extra formatting or HTML coding that can affect the display of a webpage. If you copy from Word, we recommend you paste the content into Notepad first, and then copy and paste from Notepad into the page text section.  This will help to remove some of the extra coding.

The Remove Microsoft Word Formatting button (icon on the 1st row of toolbar) can also be used to remove formatting from the page. This is very helpful if you're experiencing issues on your page.

Embed a Link or File

To embed a link or file, highlight the word you'd like linked on the front of the site, then click on the Create Hyperlink button (globe with link).

Linking to external page – Enter the full http address.

Linking to internal page - You do not need the full http address. For example, to link to http://www.yourdomain.org//smith.cfm?subpage=143, you only need to copy and paste - smith.cfm?subpage=143.

If you'd like the link to open in a new browser window, change the Target field to Open in New Window. Hit Save.

Image Gallery

To add an image within the Page Text area, click on the Insert Image From Gallery button located next to the Spell Checker.
  • Click on the Add tab in the top right.
  • Click on the Browse button. Select your JPG or GIF file, hit OK. Repeat if you wish to add more than one image at once. You can upload three images at a time.
  • Use the Reduce to drop down to select the size you want to reduce your image to.
  • Click Upload Images when Finished.
  • The image will be uploaded to your gallery and also display in the Preview window. Note that you have now switched from the Add tab to the Insert tab.
  • Enter in a URL if you wish your image to link out to another page or an external site.
  • Enter in an Alt Text, which will display when a user hovers over the image.
  • If you wish to reduce the size of your image, select Change Size and enter in a percentage. You will also have the option to resize the image once placed on your site.
  • Select where you would like to align the image in reference to the text. If you would like the image inserted to the immediate right or left of text, you will want to select either left or right of text.
  • Use the Border drop down if you would like to add a border to your image.
  • Select the Border Color.
  • Select the Spacing to be set around the image.
  • Click Insert. The image can be dragged anywhere on the page, placed inside a table or added to a Template.

Tables

To add a table to your Page Text area, click on the Insert Table button. This button is available in the third row which is accessible by clicking on the up and down arrow button. A window will appear allowing you to determine the number of rows, columns, layout, and spacing.

Once you’ve inserted a table on the page, use the Edit Table button to make edits.  If you do not want a border to appear on your table, change the border thickness to 0.  Hit Save.

Templates

Clicking on the templates button in the third row of the RTE allows you to insert a pre-created template on the page. 

Option 1 - The Image and Title template allows you to add an image with text beside it.

Option 2 - The Two Columns template allows two evenly spaced columns inserted on the page.  Click inside the gray border to begin typing your title or your text. 

Option 3 - the Text and Table template allows your text to nicely wrap around a table. 

Remember to click on the Save button at the bottom of the page once you've finished adding or editing your content. 


Adding Videos

To add videos from an outside source like YouTube, TeacherTube, or SchoolTube, copy the embed code provided and follow the instructions below.

To embed a video on a typical page:

  • Place your cursor in the page text box where you would like the video to display.
  • Click on the Insert Media icon.
  • Paste in the embed code.
  • Click on Insert. Please Note: the video may not display in your Admin Area, you may need to view the page on the front end of the site to view the video.
  • Click Save. 


To edit a video: 

Depending on your browser, you may be able to select the embedded video and click on the Insert Media icon to edit the video. In many browsers, you will need to delete the video and re-add using the Insert Media icon. 

To delete a video:

Because of the different ways to embed videos and the browser combinations you may be using, please try one of the following methods to delete a video.  

  • Click on the video (white squares will appear around the video).
  • Hit the delete or backspace button on your keyboard.
  • Click Save.
  • Click on the video.
  • Select the Insert Media button.
  • If you see the embed code, select the Delete button.
  • Click Save.
  • Click after the video (you may not see your cursor).
  • Select the Insert Media button.
  • If you see the embed code, select the Delete button.
  • Click Save.
  • Click after the video (you may not see your cursor).
  • Hit the backspace button or delete button on your keyboard.
  • Click Save.



Comments